What Happens Now?
by SaphyraBlu13
Summary: What happened while she was sleeping?  Hatter POV from the time they came back through the Looking Glass to when she wakes up with her mother in the hospital.
1. Chapter 1: Into the Land of Oysters

Ok, I know these are short but this is my first posting so, let me know if i would be better with a one shot. Constructive Critisism is very much encouraged!

I do not own any of the Characters, I just love them…

**Chapter 1: Into the Land of Oysters**

"Alice! I'm an idiot! Well o' course, you knew that but I just…. ALICE!" Hatter skid to a halt next to the puddle Alice had fallen into. "Oh, no. No no no no no!" he cried as he fell to his knees next to the unconscious form of the one girl he has ever had any real feelings for. Gently he lifted her head, wiping the muck out of her dark hair. She let out the smallest of whimpers, making him stop short, "Alice, ALICE can you hear me? Please wake up!" This wasn't happening! She has been through too much to be bested by a bloody puddle. Hatter was not one to sit and cry when there was something he could do. He might be the former owner of a tea shop but he had done his fair share of rescue missions. He would not let himself cry. There wasn't a point to it, he _would_ save her. There was no other option.

He lifted her petite form in his arms and started out of the abandoned building. "Hatter?"

"Alice! You alright?"

"Hatter."

She was not talking to him. It must have been some dream, she was still lost in her mind somewhere, but she was saying his name! Not that stupid git Jack's. He dared to hope, he knew they had shared a moment in the woods and he felt that unmistakable connection to her as soon as he had taken her hand, but when saw them saying goodbye, she had seemed so sad to be leaving poor jack all alone, or so he had thought. Who would want a rebel over a Prince? He couldn't give her a kingdom, no matter how much she deserved one. All he had to offer was a keen eye for hats and a mad earl grey. Would that be enough to keep her? This train of thought wasn't helping anything, What was he doing worrying about that mushy crap when she was hurt?

"Hold on luv" he might have imagined it but she seemed to relax into his chest.

Up ahead, a light became visible down the last corridor. As he ran the last stretch he imagined he was back in Wonderland, the suits right at his back, almost safe in the great library. Step by step, he pushed through the haze towards the outside world, the world he had feared and resented his whole life. The world that she had been fighting to get back to.

He fell through the threshold into a dark alley behind an abandoned warehouse. The world he had left seemed to be following him. The dark alley could have been any number of wonderland alleys; it was too dark to see much except the street past the buildings. He could hear oysters going about their night, oblivious to him and his cargo. "Help me! Someone, please!" He cried at them, he could feel Alice slipping away from him; he tried to get a better grip as he broke out into the street, but she was falling. He cried out as he watched her drop away in slow motion. He reached down deep within himself for the strength that usually infused his right fist. If he could use that power for destruction, surely he could use it to save _her._

"Alice! Where are you?" A petite older woman was calling down the street away from him. "Alice!" She hadn't seen him yet. He had a choice to make, he could clearly see that this woman was searching for _His_ Alice but was she a friend or was she an agent sent by the queen before her downfall? Could he trust her? Then she turned and looked right at them. A mix of emotions crossed her face in the split second it took for her to realize that the women in his arms was the one she was after. Should he make a break for it back down the alley or stay and try to fight her off. Then he looked into the women's eyes, they were Alice's eyes, he glanced down at the sleeping girl and back up at the advancing figure. Why did she have Alice's eyes? He was frozen, this had literally never happened before, his legs wouldn't move. She ran to him and took Alice's limp hand, "What happened, Alice, Honey? Open your eyes for mommy."

"Mommy?" He stared at her in awe, this was Alice's mother! Of course! She didn't have Alice's eyes, Alice had hers. This thought brought his focus back. With a nod back to the way he came from he explained in the only way he knew her delicate Oyster mind could handle, "I found her in that old building, I think she hit her head or something."

Alice's mother looked up at him, her eyes were red and glistening, damn he hated it when women cried, he turned into a gooey mess. "We need to get her to the hospital" she told him, her voice breaking on the last word. "Come with me" she pulled him by the shoulder of his coat to the busy street where a giant yellow machine stopped at her wave. He was familiar with al sorts of transportation but this hunk of smelly metal was not something they had on the other side of the mirror. He gently helped her mother get Alice's unconscious form into the back seat as she slid in next to her daughter. He started to back away knowing that this could be the last time he ever saw her, she didn't even know he was here, when a gentle tug stopped him. Alice had the hem of his coat gripped in her right hand. He froze for a split second with his hand on the door and hers on his coat. He looked up at her, then at her mother, her mother looked at him and he could see the indecision in her clear blue eyes. Then a decision was made and he knew before she spoke, "Well, are you coming?" He decided it was best to do what she said and so he slid in beside her, it took a minute to get them situated once the van had left the curb but he sat, back straight against the sliding door, never taking his eyes off his Alice. He found a few more stray pieces of debris in her hair and carefully extracted them, the action did not go un-noticed by her mother, but if she minded, she didn't say a thing, she just held her daughters hand as they sped to the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2: The Hospitable Hospital

Chapter 2: The Hospitable Hospital

The ER was bright and busy when they pulled up. Her mother had called ahead and they had a stretcher waiting for them at the curb with a small group of nurses and paramedics looking both tired and alert at once. When they took her away through the first set of double doors and orderly stopped them both "Family only in there folks, are you related to the patient?"

"I'm her mother" The magic words. She was allowed thru after the stretcher.

"I'm her … friend?" He was so much more but this oyster wouldn't understand.

"No dice buddy. You can wait out here, have a cup of coffee." The orderly wasn't going do him any favors.

"I only drink tea." He wasn't about to wait here while they whisked Alice away to who knows where. He started off to the left, there had to be another way in. Perhaps a parallel hallway further down? He started off towards a smaller hallway where he could see people rushing in and out with the same kind of monochromatic baggy clothes that the orderly had been wearing. That was the key! He needed to find a disguise. It only took him a minute to find a closet full of the "scrubs" as the label on the door had said.

Undressing as quietly as he could in the tight storage closet, he wadded up his clothes and threw them under a pile of dirty laundry and hid his hat as best as he could on the very top shelf behind stacks of towels. When pulled on a the first set of pants they hung off his frame like sheets but the drawstring held them on his slim hips so when he pulled the shirt over his unruly black locks he was surprised to find that he liked the feel of the cotton ensemble. It was seriously lacking his usual flair but it would have to do. When he was fully clothed he slowly poked his head out of the closet. The traffic in the main hall was dying down considerably so he would have to keep a low profile, something he was very good at. He exited the closet on a mission, he needed to find her, no matter the cost, and if he could find her in the hearts casino after being tortured by his old tea mate, this hospital would be a cinch, right?

Ok maybe not completely cinch-worthy, it took him a good 30 minutes to search the hospital for Alice. When he finally found her, he almost passed her room in his impatience, but once he did, he knew her at once, even with the machines buzzing around her and the strange tubes and wires sticking out of her clothes. She was sleeping, peacefully as far as he could see but he needed to take a closer look. Being very careful not to wake her, Hatter slowly made his way to the foot of her bed, listening and scanning the double room for any sign of her mother. He didn't want to take any chances with that particular variable. When he was absolutely sure they was safe and alone, he slowly stepped around the bed to side with the least amount of wires and machines.

She looked so small, child-like, under the thin hospital blanket, to look at her right now, you would never know that she had just overthrown an evil queen and saved the entirety of Wonderland. He sat on the edge of her bed, unsure of what he could do. The only thing he could think of that wouldn't jostle the wires or wake her was to take her hand. Suddenly he felt waves of electricity running from his toes to the crown of his head and settled in the pit of his stomach. He almost dropped her hand in surprise, _What__in__bloody__Hell__was__that?_ He thought. The thought was banished at the feel of her skin. As he lifted her right hand he couldn't help but notice how soft she felt under his callused fingers. How delicate the lines on the inside of her palm looked, his hands were rough and scarred.

"Charlie, no, I…" came from the head of the hospital bed. Hatter gave a start, was she awake? He looked up but no, her eyes were closed and frantic behind the bruised lids, she was dreaming. But it didn't sound like a good dream. "Help him… HATTER!" Though she was asleep, he could see tears escaping from underneath her lashes. He touched her cheek, smoothing away the tears that had fallen there. She mumbled once more and settled her face into his hand. His other hand was still occupied with hers. He bent down slowly to make sure she was truly asleep, searching her sleeping face for a hint as to how to help her. He licked his dry lips, uncertain of how to proceed. She needed him to get her out of this nightmare that he could see ravaging her sleep. He smoothed her hair, lightly brushing it behind her ear, letting his fingers linger behind her ear as his thumb stroked her cheek. He could only think of one thing to do, it may not help but it was worth a shot. He leaned in as close as he could manage over the metal safety railings on the bed. She smelled like home, the earthy sweetness of spring flowers after a rainstorm, he could feel her soft breath as his lips slightly parted to breath her in. His breath hitched in anticipation as he closed the last half inch to contact. So soft, and her smell intensified as his lips took hers in. He was barely touching her and it was driving him crazy. Pulling away was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do. It made fighting Mad March look like a picnic in the borogroves.

A familiar voice drifted in from the hall way "Are you sure she is going to be alright?" It was her mother. If she found him there he would be in a world of trouble.

"We need to run a few more tests to make sure she doesn't have a concussion but what she really needs is some sleep. When she wakes up she should be good to go home." He let her hand fall back to the linen sheets as he started for the door at the other end of the room.

"Thank you, doctor." He had just enough time to look back at her before the handle of the door across the room started to move. He slipped out into the hall just as her mother entered the room. If she heard his door click close she didn't follow him. He snuck one more peek into the room and he saw the doctor examining one of the machines by her bedside.

"Well everything looks good. Her heart rate is strong. There is one spike here, a few minutes ago, but that could be a machine malfunction. We will hold her overnight just to be safe."

Hatter smirked to himself, he knew why her heart had spiked, the same thing happened to him every time they touched. Knowing she was in good hands, he quickly snuck back to the storage closet where he had left his clothes. His head was getting cold.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Dream

He spent the night in the hospital waiting room, he couldn't leave but he couldn't be in Alice's room with her mother. Starting in the chair closest to the door he made a slow circuit through all the furniture in the waiting room. He stood and paced across the entry to the hallway he had been denied entry to earlier, trying to catch glimpses of the doctor who had been treating Alice, or her mother, or even Alice herself. He couldn't keep still and it was a wonder he didn't wear a trench into the hard tile with the miles he was clocking in front of those swinging doors. Smiling oysters kept trying to give him a dark, hot drink, bitter, not at all his cup o' tea but he smiled and accepted each cardboard cup with a nod. After his third or fourth, he started to shake and his laps where getting faster and more frantic. And he should have been getting tired, he hadn't slept in almost 2 days, but he felt strangely charged, full of an electric buzz. When he started to pour his own cup "o'Joe" as they called it, a dumpy older woman told him if he had one more cup he might explode. Not wanting that to happen before he made sure she was safe, he decided against the last cup. He finally crashed on one of the very uncomfortable chairs in the lobby area a bit before the sun came up.

_She was running towards him, arms outstretched but she seemed to be getting father away from him with every step she took. There were hundreds of suits at her back and no matter how hard he tried he could not make a sound to warn her. He tried to take a step but his feet were stuck to the ground. He knew that if he could just get to her, he would save her. He stood watching as the suits overtook her, "ALICE! NO!" He screamed silently. He watched as they swarmed her and as they reached her they too grew smaller, they were flying around her multiplying, swarming like angry bees. He couldn't even see her now, just a cloud of cards darting and swooping. As the cloud dissipated, all that he could see was a pile of clothes, with the ring of wonderland placed neatly at the peak. _

"Young man," He awoke with a start.

"Oye!" he yelped as he fell out of the chair.

"What are you still doing here? It's almost morning." It was her mother.

Still half asleep, he pulled himself off the cold floor onto his feet. She was standing there looking up at him while simultaneously looking down her nose at him. He knew he was not on top form, being without a change of clothes or a good shower in a day or three… but he stood there tall and never looked away. He knew her game and he was not going to be the first to break. He didn't really know how to respond to her question so he just shrugged and smiled, at least he tried to, the look on her face said that he didn't quite put her fears at ease. She held out her hand and he took it in his. It was small, like Alice's and soft, he had to look up again to make sure it was her mother's hand he was holding and not her daughters. When he firmly took her hand-shake, she finally let the corners of her lips turn up. Not quite a smile, but it was start.

"What is your name, young man"

"Hatter, uh, I mean…" what was a good Oyster name? Just then a thin, rather gangly orderly strolled past following a group of nurses, looking like a hopefull puppy waiting for some scraps to fall. The name tag on his coat gave him what he needed… "David, David Hatter"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Confrontation

_**First of all I want to thank everyone for their reviews and support! All four of you! Its ok, it's only my first publication so I'm a work in progress. I especially want to thank SquirmberryJuice for the excellent advice to have Alice's mother be wary of the stranger. This chapter is dedicated to you. Also, I DO NOT own anyone, I just Love them! Thanks and keep reading kids!**_

"David Hatter. I don't believe I have seen you around. Are you a friend of Alice's?" She was a good foot shorter than him but she still seemed to tower over him.

"You could say that. We are… um… ahem… close."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean, 'Close'? I have never even heard you mentioned. Now I love my daughter but she doesn't have many friends. And I met the lovely man she is dating and his name is Jack, so pardon me if I have trouble believing you when you tell me that you and my daughter are 'Close'."

"I, uh…" He tried to think of a plausible explanation. After all, who would believe that he and Alice had been on the most exciting, dangerous, wondrous adventure of all time? They had fought Suits, Jabberwockies, Insane assassins and each other for the last week, but she had only been missing for minutes. He held her hand when she was afraid of the steep drops of the floating city. Shot at his mentor at the resistance and rescued her from the clutches of an evil queen on the back of a Flying, mechanical Flamingo. All in the blink of an eye here in the Land of the Oysters. How do you explain all this to a woman who still believes her husband left of his own accord 15 years ago, when the carpenter was in Wonderland for over a century? He couldn't think of anything, honestly, he couldn't think period. The caffeine in his system had long left his blood stream and he was now at 72 hours with 15 minutes of sleep.

"Well? Why are you still here?" she crossed her arms over her chest, the effect her stance had on him was not unlike the original "drink me" bottle that the Alice of Legend had first encountered upon entering wonderland through the rabbit hole.

With head lowered, eyes below the brim of his trusty fedora, he tried again, "i love her…" it came out smaller than a whisper, the words he had never thought he would say, the words that changed everything. His head slowly rose, "I love her." Stronger but still too quiet to hear.

"What did you say? Please speak up, I have had a very long night." She shifted her small frame as she pressed her hands to her temples.

"I…" he started again, still louder. "I love…."

"Stop right there." She lifted her hand to silence him. "My daughter has yet to wake up after you drug her out of an abandoned construction site. I have never met you before, I have never even heard her speak of you." She was visibly tense, "so this leads me to believe one of two things…"

"I know how this must sound…"

"Don't interrupt me young man, I have had no sleep in the last 24 hours and my daughter is lying in a hospital bed, unconscious. You will listen to what I have to say and then you will leave this hospital and I don't want to see you gain. Is that clear?"

"yes, but if you would just let me explain…"

Her gaze silenced him before she even opened her mouth to speak, "This leads me to believe one of two things, One, that you are the one who caused her to get hurt in that building…"

"I would never…" but maybe it was his fault; he did hesitate before deciding whether or not to follow her out of the looking glass.

"Or," she continued choosing to ignore his outburst, "You were just in the right place at the right time. Either way I don't see how you fit into her future."

Hatter could feel his heart sinking. She was giving a voice to every doubt he had about himself and what he could give to Alice. Even if she did feel the same way about him, _A fish can love a bird, but where would they live?_

"I think it would be best if you leave. Now. Before I call the police." Though he had no idea what 'police' were, she said the word the same way Queen sympathizers said 'suits' so he knew his choice was made for him. Her words rang with a finality that he could not deny.

"But… "The word hung in the air, what could he say? How could he explain to this woman that there was no way in hell he was going to leave Alice here, with just her mother for protection? Yeah, the queen was defeated but there were still plenty of people who supported the things she stood for or even those who personally disliked Hatter himself and any one of them could follow them through the looking glass. Any one of them could find their way to Alice's home. Then what would happen? Oysters had no idea how to deal with Wonderlanders. They had no idea what they were up against. His own fist was proof enough of that. Speaking of, he hadn't even tried it out here, he heard stories of wonderland powers magnifying here, something about the power of the ring and the transference as you stepped through the looking glass. If only he could remember.

She was still standing, hands on her hips, looking down her nose/ up at him. He had no choice. He would have to hide from her again. He wasn't leaving, but he wasn't going to tell _her_ that.

"Yes of course, she is your daughter after all."

"I'm glad we don't have to resort to calling in the police." She held her hand out to shake and there was only a slight hesitation before he gripped it firmly and turned to go.

He needed a plan, he couldn't just hide out in a closet until Alice woke up. He needed a hiding place, an alias. He needed help.

As he walked down the corridor, lost in his scheming, he didn't notice the large man in a black trench coat, hiding behind a wall of shelves, his beady eyes glistening with delight at finally having tracked the object of his loathing through the span of Wonderland and through the looking glass.

"I will get you back for double crossing me Hatter.

I never lose a caucus race."


End file.
